ASEAN URGED TO OFFER ATTRACTIVE PACKAGES TO LURE INVESTMENTS

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia ASEAN countries have been urged to work together and deliver attractive packages to draw foreign direct investors wanting to relocate their investments or increase it in the region due to the ongoing global trade tensions.

Instead of competing against one another, Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Dr Ong Kian Ming said greater interaction and cooperation between countries in the regional grouping is needed with investment opportunities from China, Europe and the United States quite prominent.

There are many opportunities for us (ASEAN members) to invest and co-invest, as a strategic hub, so that we can export together to other countries, including China and the US.

This is one of the big challenges that we need to think about and in terms of how to make ASEAN into a cohesive unit. We can take advantage of this trade diversion, he added.

Ong was speaking at a session titled, Food for Thought: Future of Malaysia in ASEAN, held in conjunction with the 2nd Selangor ASEAN Business Conference 2018 here yesterday.

He said tensions over the US-China trade war had influenced many multinational companies and foreign investors, especially those from China, to divert their investments into the ASEAN region.

As a result, the number of applications in terms of investments from China, coming in to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, has seen a significant increase from January-June 2018 compared with the same period of 2017, he added.

The 2nd Selangor ASEAN Business Conference 2018 is one of the three component events apart from the 4th Selangor International Expo 2018 and Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention 2018 organised under the 2nd Selangor International Business Summit 2018.

The summit, from today until Sept 16, was officiated by the Raja Muda Selangor Tengku Amir Shah. Also present was Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari.